Microsoft Updates Systems Road Map

New versions of Microsoft Operations Manager and Systems Management Server will move to model-based management.

LAS VEGASOn the two-year anniversary of the launch of its Dynamic Systems Initiative, Microsoft Corp. set out an aggressive road map for the next two years to take its manageability forward.
Among the coming developments are new versions of both Microsoft Operations Manager and Systems Management Server.

MOM Version 3, due in the next two years, will move to model-based management to allow for more service-oriented monitoring rather than element monitoring, said Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president of Microsofts Windows and Enterprise Management Division, in his keynote address at the Microsoft Management Summit here Tuesday morning.

"You can define models of services you are delivering and monitor the service as it is delivered to end users," he said.
Microsoft will also make MOM more extensible, enhance the interface to make it more task-oriented, and allow different operators to have their own interface depending on their roles. That roles capability will be delivered through greater integration with Active Directory.
Click here to read a review of Microsoft Operations Manager 2005.
The next major release of Systems Management Server, Version 4, will also take a more model-based approach to management. It begins to address the growing interest in improved configuration management for better compliance with regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
SMS Version 4 will also include a simplified, more task-oriented user interface that also allows for different roles.
Although Version 4 does begin to address security issues through a network access protection function that allows traffic to be quarantined before it is allowed onto a corporate network, Tatarinov did not address other security questions, according to one attendee.
"What are they doing with their anti-virus purchase? How does that integrate into SMS and MOM?" asked Steve Workman, director of product management at LANDesk Software Inc.
In the near term, Microsoft is also beefing up its new System Center offering, which brings together SMS and MOM in an integrated suite.
Microsoft will broaden that suite to include new functionality, including reporting in the new System Center Reporting Manager 2005. It will enter beta testing next month.
Read more here about Microsofts Dynamic Systems Initiative.
System Center will also gain a new member that brings Microsoft for the first time into the backup and restore world.
The new System Center Data Protection Manager is designed to allow for continuous operation. Because it is disk-based, it allows for faster operation and rapid recovery, Tatarinov said. That offering, which runs on Windows Server 2003, is in beta testing now and is due later this year.
Microsofts Indy capacity planning tool will also see the light of day as the System Center Capacity Manager 2006. It is intended to help plan and optimize applications servers such as Exchange and MOM 2005. It allows users to conduct "what-if" scenarios to determine the best design for accommodating new users or locations and help optimize application performance before deployment.
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